Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Texas Incidents Focus New Attention on U.S. Immigration Policy

Aired May 16, 2003 - 15:10   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KATE SNOW, CNN ANCHOR: For the second time this week, a tractor- trailer carrying suspected illegal immigrants has been found near Victoria, Texas. Eighteen people were found inside the trailer, which was parked at a rest stop north of Victoria. All appeared to be healthy and none required hospitalization. The driver of the truck is in police custody.
Earlier this week, 18 people died from heat related causes after riding in a crowded tractor-trailer filled with more than 100 men, women and children. All of the passengers were from Mexico and Central America. The driver of that truck is scheduled to be in federal court this afternoon.

The incidents near Victoria, Texas have focused new attention on the larger debate over U.S. immigration policy. With me now to talk more about this are Dan Stein of the Federation for American Immigration Reform and Katherine Culliton of The Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Thank you for being with us.

A truck found full of people, some of them have died. It's a terrible story. Does it say that our policy is flawed?

KATHERINE CULLITON, MEXICAN-AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FUND: Yes, it's a terrible tragedy. America is a nation of immigrants. And as a nation of immigrants, we've always been generous and opened ourselves.

The U.S. economy is dependent on the work of immigrants. Entire sectors of the U.S. economy would fall apart if there weren't new immigrants coming in. And yet our immigration policy is flawed.

We're not providing documentation. We have willing workers, we have employers who are desperate to hire them, and yet people are having to come across in an unsafe manner and without protection of the rule of law.

SNOW: Dan, it certainly gives new weight to some of those arguments.

DAN STEIN, FEDERATION FOR AMERICAN IMMIGRATION REFORM: Oh, I wouldn't say that at all. We certainly have a right to expect intending immigrants to respect our laws.

I think the Mexican government has to stop encouraging illegal immigration. Employers have to stop hiring them. And politicians have to stop promising them things like an amnesty that lures people here with the hope that eventually they're going to get that coveted green card.

If we don't get our act together with interior enforcement, with state and local cooperation to help the feeds enforce the law, we have billions all over the world who want to live here, can't possibly accommodate them all. And we have a right, I think, to demand from Mexico that they respect our border in the same way that we respect hers.

SNOW: The president did seem to be moving in the direction, though, prior to 9/11, of opening things up with Mexico, having an immigration policy, a more loose immigration policy, more worker visas for Mexican nationals.

STEIN: Bad idea.

SNOW: Bad idea?

STEIN: Well it's not going to solve any problems, ultimately.

SNOW: Do you see the president now moving in that direction, or is that just completely gone off the table now because of 9/11 and security concerns?

CULLITON: We certainly hope that the president and the Congress will move forward. The talks that were going on between President Bush and President Fox that ended on September the 5th of 2001 are even more important than ever, as this tragedy shows.

Since then, Alan Greenspan has said that new immigrants are essential for our economy because of the lost productivity of the aging U.S. workforce. Since then, employers have been desperate to make hires, and since then we've found the need to give people documentation to know who is within our country. For all the national security reasons, we need to have comprehensive immigration reform.

STEIN: I mean what I think I hear Katherine saying is that she's trying to justify a pattern of illegal behavior on the economic basis that immigrants work for low wages. The national security concerns are only part of that. But, clearly, if truckloads of people can come in illegally, how can you stop terrorism if you don't control the borders?

And, ultimately, that's something the administration has to come to terms with. They need a plan not only to try to track terrorists after they get here, but to control better the whole process of immigration so that we know who is coming, who is going, and can figure out what they're doing while they're here.

SNOW: A committee on Capitol Hill this week passed a non-binding resolution but one that said that, if there's going to be an immigration deal between U.S. and Mexico, there ought to also be a provision in there that Mexico open up its oil industry to Americans or to anyone else, to international investors.

Does that muddy the water here? Is that a good idea? CULLITON: That's through the House Foreign Relations committee. And, in a sense, international trade and international foreign investment is very key to the problem that we have of our fraud immigration policy. The United States has been exporting a lot of goods to Mexico. We're dependent on selling our goods in Mexico and we have some sort of free trade agreement that also works to take into account the workers that will be displaced from Mexico.

However, Congress needs to take a look at comprehensive immigration reform. Senator Kennedy is looking at a bill. The administration is also looking into the problem again and finding a solution so we have smart borders and safe borders instead of the kind of tragedy...

STEIN: All an amnesty is going to do is set off a tidal wave. Mexico ought to open up Pemex to direct foreign investment. This is typical of Mexico's...

(CROSSTALK)

STEIN: ... xenophobic attitude about foreign investment. Kate, it's always a one-way street. They make unilateral demands and we take all their people, as many as they can send, because they want that hard currency. We turn around and say let's have a little reciprocity.

NAFTA was supposed to solve the problem of illegal immigration. Remember that North American Free Trade agreement? It just made the problem worse, and now the American workers is being decimated by the impact of this flood of cheap labor.

SNOW: Does the very fact that they are trying in committee, anyway, to attach some conditions to an immigration agreement...

STEIN: Good idea.

SNOW: ... does that show, though, that there is less momentum in Congress now?

STEIN: Sure. It shows a tremendous weakness in the House for the president's position that there be any concessions after Mexico would not stand with us on Iraq and on other issues. I think our relationship with Mexico is very rocky right now, and I think it's time for the administration to rethink its strategy on the border.

SNOW: Last quick comment?

CULLITON: This issue isn't about U.S.-Mexican relations. It's about the United States of America, which is a nation of immigrants. If our industries need immigrants to come here and do the hard work and are the backbone of our economy, and people are willing to risk their lives crossing the border to escape abject poverty, then we need to welcome them and we need to normalize the situation by providing for documentation.

SNOW: Katherine Culliton with the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Dan Stein with the Federation for American Immigration Reform, FAIR, thank you both for being with us.

STEIN: Thanks.

CULLITON: Thank you very much.

SNOW: Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





Policy>


Aired May 16, 2003 - 15:10   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KATE SNOW, CNN ANCHOR: For the second time this week, a tractor- trailer carrying suspected illegal immigrants has been found near Victoria, Texas. Eighteen people were found inside the trailer, which was parked at a rest stop north of Victoria. All appeared to be healthy and none required hospitalization. The driver of the truck is in police custody.
Earlier this week, 18 people died from heat related causes after riding in a crowded tractor-trailer filled with more than 100 men, women and children. All of the passengers were from Mexico and Central America. The driver of that truck is scheduled to be in federal court this afternoon.

The incidents near Victoria, Texas have focused new attention on the larger debate over U.S. immigration policy. With me now to talk more about this are Dan Stein of the Federation for American Immigration Reform and Katherine Culliton of The Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Thank you for being with us.

A truck found full of people, some of them have died. It's a terrible story. Does it say that our policy is flawed?

KATHERINE CULLITON, MEXICAN-AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FUND: Yes, it's a terrible tragedy. America is a nation of immigrants. And as a nation of immigrants, we've always been generous and opened ourselves.

The U.S. economy is dependent on the work of immigrants. Entire sectors of the U.S. economy would fall apart if there weren't new immigrants coming in. And yet our immigration policy is flawed.

We're not providing documentation. We have willing workers, we have employers who are desperate to hire them, and yet people are having to come across in an unsafe manner and without protection of the rule of law.

SNOW: Dan, it certainly gives new weight to some of those arguments.

DAN STEIN, FEDERATION FOR AMERICAN IMMIGRATION REFORM: Oh, I wouldn't say that at all. We certainly have a right to expect intending immigrants to respect our laws.

I think the Mexican government has to stop encouraging illegal immigration. Employers have to stop hiring them. And politicians have to stop promising them things like an amnesty that lures people here with the hope that eventually they're going to get that coveted green card.

If we don't get our act together with interior enforcement, with state and local cooperation to help the feeds enforce the law, we have billions all over the world who want to live here, can't possibly accommodate them all. And we have a right, I think, to demand from Mexico that they respect our border in the same way that we respect hers.

SNOW: The president did seem to be moving in the direction, though, prior to 9/11, of opening things up with Mexico, having an immigration policy, a more loose immigration policy, more worker visas for Mexican nationals.

STEIN: Bad idea.

SNOW: Bad idea?

STEIN: Well it's not going to solve any problems, ultimately.

SNOW: Do you see the president now moving in that direction, or is that just completely gone off the table now because of 9/11 and security concerns?

CULLITON: We certainly hope that the president and the Congress will move forward. The talks that were going on between President Bush and President Fox that ended on September the 5th of 2001 are even more important than ever, as this tragedy shows.

Since then, Alan Greenspan has said that new immigrants are essential for our economy because of the lost productivity of the aging U.S. workforce. Since then, employers have been desperate to make hires, and since then we've found the need to give people documentation to know who is within our country. For all the national security reasons, we need to have comprehensive immigration reform.

STEIN: I mean what I think I hear Katherine saying is that she's trying to justify a pattern of illegal behavior on the economic basis that immigrants work for low wages. The national security concerns are only part of that. But, clearly, if truckloads of people can come in illegally, how can you stop terrorism if you don't control the borders?

And, ultimately, that's something the administration has to come to terms with. They need a plan not only to try to track terrorists after they get here, but to control better the whole process of immigration so that we know who is coming, who is going, and can figure out what they're doing while they're here.

SNOW: A committee on Capitol Hill this week passed a non-binding resolution but one that said that, if there's going to be an immigration deal between U.S. and Mexico, there ought to also be a provision in there that Mexico open up its oil industry to Americans or to anyone else, to international investors.

Does that muddy the water here? Is that a good idea? CULLITON: That's through the House Foreign Relations committee. And, in a sense, international trade and international foreign investment is very key to the problem that we have of our fraud immigration policy. The United States has been exporting a lot of goods to Mexico. We're dependent on selling our goods in Mexico and we have some sort of free trade agreement that also works to take into account the workers that will be displaced from Mexico.

However, Congress needs to take a look at comprehensive immigration reform. Senator Kennedy is looking at a bill. The administration is also looking into the problem again and finding a solution so we have smart borders and safe borders instead of the kind of tragedy...

STEIN: All an amnesty is going to do is set off a tidal wave. Mexico ought to open up Pemex to direct foreign investment. This is typical of Mexico's...

(CROSSTALK)

STEIN: ... xenophobic attitude about foreign investment. Kate, it's always a one-way street. They make unilateral demands and we take all their people, as many as they can send, because they want that hard currency. We turn around and say let's have a little reciprocity.

NAFTA was supposed to solve the problem of illegal immigration. Remember that North American Free Trade agreement? It just made the problem worse, and now the American workers is being decimated by the impact of this flood of cheap labor.

SNOW: Does the very fact that they are trying in committee, anyway, to attach some conditions to an immigration agreement...

STEIN: Good idea.

SNOW: ... does that show, though, that there is less momentum in Congress now?

STEIN: Sure. It shows a tremendous weakness in the House for the president's position that there be any concessions after Mexico would not stand with us on Iraq and on other issues. I think our relationship with Mexico is very rocky right now, and I think it's time for the administration to rethink its strategy on the border.

SNOW: Last quick comment?

CULLITON: This issue isn't about U.S.-Mexican relations. It's about the United States of America, which is a nation of immigrants. If our industries need immigrants to come here and do the hard work and are the backbone of our economy, and people are willing to risk their lives crossing the border to escape abject poverty, then we need to welcome them and we need to normalize the situation by providing for documentation.

SNOW: Katherine Culliton with the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Dan Stein with the Federation for American Immigration Reform, FAIR, thank you both for being with us.

STEIN: Thanks.

CULLITON: Thank you very much.

SNOW: Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com





Policy>